Samantha is 15!

After breakfast with her friends, I set out Samantha's gifts from us on the same table that her party favors were on.  

Since I love a nice theme, I continued the concept with plant wrapping paper and some awesome ribbon that I found that resembles leaves.  I cut a few leaves out of cardstock paper and used those as gift tags.  

She then took turns opening each of her gifts from us ... with such cute commentary in between.  

Samantha has really been into gnones this year so I thought that it was fitting to get her some holiday flannel gnome sheets for her bed.  She loved them!

She does A LOT of coloring in her anatomy class this year and specifically asked for some new colored pencils.  This particular set had many more colors for her to choose from.

Later, we enjoyed her dinner of choice at home: homemade chicken alfredo and sang happy birthday yet one more time.  It's hard to believe that we only have her at home with us for a few more years and then she will be spreading her wings.  We're already talking about her driver's license, college choices and high school open house.

Samantha's 15th Birthday with Friends

Samantha's birthday fell on a Saturday this year so we planned a small party with her friends for Saturday evening into Sunday morning.  How cool to make sure that she woke up with her closest friends there on her birthday?!

We settled on a 'plant' theme because she seems to love those lately.  It would easy to make it classy (think, teenager) without being too 'over the top' (no balloon arch or wild decorations).  

I kept the party favors simple: some monogrammed make-up bags, lip balm and a faux potted plant for every one of the guests, including the birthday girl.

You can never have too many bags like this for make-up, accessories, travel, etc.

I decorated the table with some greenery that I already had on hand and strung some simple fairy lights throughout it.  Some cute disposable plates, napkins and gold silverware completed the look.

My best friend, Jennifer, brought her daughter to the party and I talked her into staying for a bit.  She was the perfect BINGO caller!

So much concentration because the prizes were gift cards and cash -- which really elevates the game!

The guests also played a few rounds of Scattergories that I made up using Samantha's name.  

Later, after dinner (pizza and breadsticks, of course!), the girls were given scratch-off cards that I made with numbers that gave the order in which they could pick out their faux potted plant from the party favor table.  

I made Samantha's cake and added a bunch of succulents that I designed using fondant.  She loved it!

But the big excitement was when, right before she went to blow out her candles, one of the table legs collapsed!  I managed to catch the cake in time before it fell off the table, but one of the table decorations was not so lucky because it fell to the floor and smashed into so many little pieces.

One of the gifts from her friends was this awesome pair of chicken earrings!

Shortly after that, the boys arrived home.  They had gone to an MSU hockey game with Steve and were excited to share with us that the MSU had won!  I suspect that their hockey team may win the Big 10 Championship this year.  They are THAT good.

We wrapped up the evening with mini lego sets for everyone.  They are frustrating to put together sometimes, but the end results are amazing and are a crowd hit, for sure!

Halloween 2023

Back in the day, we used to put a lot more effort into Halloween costumes.  The kids would mull over what costume they would want to wear -- changing their minds multiple times -- and I remember discussing it with them ... and ordering costumes ... as early as August.

Now, they often do group costumes with their friends and are content with simple "onesies."  Jimmy made his choice a week before the holiday.  

And, you know what?  I'm ok with that.  While I miss the cute costumes and all of the accessories, I am now focusing that effort into spooky decorations, festive food ideas and Halloween parties (classroom and at our house). 

The girls went with an 'under the sea' theme together with the Ainsley ... and Mia, our cat.  

Spoiler alert: Mia was not a fan of her costume that Samantha had surprised her with.

A shark, a walrus and a lobster.  Nice warm costumes for these COLD Michigan Halloween nights.

My crew.  Jack was Luigi and his best friend, Adam, was Mario.

We had tacos at our house and Jack's best friend and his family came over to eat and then we went out on two golf carts to trick-or-treat.  Grandpa stayed at our house to pass out candy.

It was a cold night, as usual, so it seemed that many of the houses were handing out more candy than ever in an attempt to make sure that they unloaded all that they could during the two-hour allotted time.

When the kids got back home, they went straight to the basement and began sorting their loot.

Smiles all around as trades were taking place.  Plus, the kids didn't have school the next day (a Professional Development Day for teachers and staff) so they were amped up on sugar!

Pumpkin Carving - 2023

This year, with the garage heated and a table already set up (leftover from the girls' Halloween party with friends), we opted to carve pumpkins out there.  It's amazing to look back at last year's pictures and see they kids out on the back deck carving their pumpkins in balmy weather.  This year was definitely much chillier and more representative of late October in Michigan.

One of the most exciting parts for the kids is that initial "pulling the top off and looking at how many seeds there are inside."

Then comes the daunting task of actually scraping all of the said seeds out.  

This girl takes such pride both the clean-out of the pumpkin and its design.

 

I get a little choked up thinking that we really only have 2 more Halloweens at home with this girl before she starts to spread her wings.

All together at one table enjoying one of our favorite Halloween traditions:

Jimmy soon decided that it would easier to take off his sweatshirt and get right into the action.

I wasn't sure what design Sophia had chosen and I kept asking for a hint ... but she would not oblige.

Oooey and gooey.

Deep in concentration:

Jack told me what look he was going for on his pumpkin and I helped cut the design and he finished it up.

In the meantime, Mia (who is about 15 years old now!), wandered out into the garage and found a comfortable seat to watch and listen to all of the action.

All finished and on display on the front porch!

These are going to look great with lights on inside of them!

Sam turned hers into a fish!

And Sophia's was a detailed ghost that really glowed beautifully!

A Friend Halloween Party

The girls approached me earlier in the month about having a Halloween Party for a few of their friends at our house.  The still love trick-or-treating, but as they get older, they love having their friends over to hang out even more.  And, both Steve and I are 100% in agreement that we want them to have their friends over to our house whenever they would like.  Throw in a good theme and a few decorations -- and I am ALL IN.

I enjoy being creative and mixing things up whenever I can, so I brainstormed on a few festive treats to serve.

Fruits and veggies are so much more fun when their is a mermaid skeleton laid out on the platter, right?!

Edible mice made similarly to cake pops but then rolled in cocoa powder with almond slices for ears and black licorice for tails.

Sophia and Ainsley worked hard on their spider pops and I think that they turned out absolutely adorable:

Later, we served drinks with "blood," also known as raspberry syrup added via a syringe to Sprite.  

The girls enjoyed pizza (of course!) inside and then we heated the garage so that they could have popcorn (with ALL the Halloween candies added to it ... including gummy brains).  

Perhaps the highlight of the whole event was the Halloween Family Feud game that I had put together.  With some help from Etsy and my own editing, the girls had a blast playing on teams and trying to guess all of the top answers in each category.  The whole thing was digital so we played it on the projector and it was complete with sound and buzzers.  I anticipate that we will use a version of this again at a future party, for sure.

Later, the girls came back inside and set up their "beds" down in the basement.  It was a hodge-podge assortment of mattresses and bedding, but it worked out perfectly and everyone stayed toasty warm.

The next morning, the girls came upstairs for a full breakfast (homemade French toast sticks, bacon, juice and fruit) and after the girls got picked up by their parents, we sent to work bringing pumpkins in to prepare them for carving.

September Randoms

 I was invited to a Ladies Night in our neighborhood and was asked to bring an appetizer.  I chose to take a (very easy) caramel cream cheese dip with apples but wanted to elevate the presentation a bit.

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For Homecoming Spirit Week, the boys were excited to wear some Wolfpack jerseys.

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Sam picked went with friends to the Homecoming Dance but we took a few pictures at home first.  While I think that just about every single color looks great on Samantha, this royal blue was absolutely stunning.

Those legs, though.

Taking a quick picture with Ainsley before Ainsley left to go with her friend:

I took Samantha over to a friend's house and then made sure to grab several pictures.

The girls were going as their own group and the (larger) group of boys were going in their own group.  I'm grateful for the mom with the huge van that kindly took all of them to Culver's before the dance.

It is the style for most girls to wear their converse shoes with their dresses (all about the comfort!), but Sam loves to wear her heels.

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I love how much Jimmy enjoys a nice painting project.  These watercolor paints get SO much use in our household.

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Jack is playing tackle football again this season.  He's on the 5th/6th grade team ... with a lot of players ... and it has been so fun to watch him on the weekends.  For this particular game, the team was wearing PINK to support breast cancer awareness.

Jimmy joined him in the front yard to practice some plays before the game.

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